


Dragon Mountain

by Hyrulehearts1123, sageclover61



Series: Bard Assassin [5]
Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Assassin Jaskier | Dandelion, BAMF Jaskier | Dandelion, Episode: s01e06 Rare Species, F/M, Jaskier | Dandelion Has Feelings, Jaskier | Dandelion Has a Past, Jaskier | Dandelion Needs a Hug, M/M, Multi, Musician Jaskier | Dandelion, Non-Human Jaskier | Dandelion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:42:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22651957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyrulehearts1123/pseuds/Hyrulehearts1123, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sageclover61/pseuds/sageclover61
Summary: Somebody decided that Jaskier's next contract had to be Eyck of Denesle, and Jas has some concerns about just how close his other work is getting to Geralt. But Yennefer is there to provide comfort when Geralt has no idea what is going on.
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg, Jaskier | Dandelion/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg
Series: Bard Assassin [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1623745
Comments: 14
Kudos: 537





	Dragon Mountain

**Author's Note:**

> This is the moment from which Canon has been well and truly diverged from.
> 
> A lot of the dialogue is straight from the show. Hyrule and I are in agreement that there is no reason to rewrite perfection.

“Julian Alfred Pankratz.”

The name almost had Geralt pausing in his steps. It couldn’t be a coincidence that the name coming from Jaskier’s mouth was that one. Except it made no sense for Jaskier to be uttering  _ that  _ name.

Years and years before he’d met Jaskier, he’d been in Lettenhove. The viscount’s son, someone with that same name, had supposedly been stolen away by a monster. He’d been hired to find the monster and the boy, dead or alive, but had been unable to do so. There had also never found any actual evidence that there had ever been a monster, and he’d been forced to move on, suspicions left unsaid. He’d thought about it, from time to time, sure, but there was no way Jaskier could be the Viscount’s son.

Then again, as he studied Jaskier’s face, it occurred to him that the bard didn’t look any different from how he looked when they’d met. How long had it been, anyway?

“You’ll fetch a goodly amount for that mare if you sell now!”

It didn’t matter anyway. Jaskier was… just Jaskier.

* * *

Jaskier wasn’t sure how to feel about the fact that his next contract was Eyck of Denesle. He was also confused as to how it had been orchestrated for both himself and the knight to end up on the same quest to hunt a dragon. Yennefer had told him about the hunt, and that Eyck would be there, but he’d learned both of those things before Borch had showed up to try to convince Geralt that he should join as well. It  _ had  _ saved him from having to explain to Geralt why they needed to go, at least.

He despised the knight the instant he laid eyes on him, and he introduced himself to the dwarf using his  _ original  _ name, for no other reason than to see how Geralt would react. As usual, the Witcher had no external reaction. Gave no sign that he had even heard him.

“What are you doing here, Yen?” Geralt asked when she walked over. His tone was almost fond.

  
  


“I’m here with my escort. Noble Sir Eyck of Denesle. To assist him in killing the dragon.”

“For kingdom and glory!”

The knight was  _ definitely  _ a tool, Jaskier decided. He wondered who could have possibly wanted to pay good money to have the fool assassinated, and what he’d possibly done to warrant such an extreme measure.

“Til we meet again, Geralt.”

* * *

Jaskier was really  _ really  _ confused about why Borch’s two bodyguards had decided that Borch was the most beautiful, but he wasn’t going to judge.

There was a stretch of burnt mountain behind them, and there were desolate places along the path they hiked. A two day journey up the mountain with only one passage meant that he’d have two opportunities to make the kill without anyone knowing it was him.

He rambled on about nonsense, because he really wanted everyone to see him as the idiot bard so that when the knight turned up dead the next morning, no one suspected him. Yennefer already knew, of course, but she wasn’t going to tell anyone. She’d promised.

Geralt was going to kill him for it, but he wandered off the trail and into the brush because that was absolutely the perfect way to convince everyone he was dumb. And he could see the perfect poisonous berries, if he could just convince the fool of a knight to eat them without anyone knowing that the knight had been encouraged to do so. He seemed like that kind of idiot.

Except then he found a very odd looking creature that had definitely been  _ eating  _ those berries. “Hello.”

“Jaskier-”

“Hello, little fellow,” he said, loudly to ensure that everyone heard the sincerity of his tone as he made a complete and utter money out of himself intentionally. He got a little better look at that really adorable face he was sure was not really as cute as it appeared. “Aw! Aren’t you just the cutest-” it started standing taller, “- most terrifying thing I have ever seen in my life.”

It growled at him so he turned around to head back up towards the trail. “Right, run away! Run away! Geralt!” He called towards the Witcher because he was certain that even in the height of his own apparent stupidity, Geralt probably wouldn’t leave him to his death in front of all these witnesses.

He made it back onto the trail. “It’s one of your… friends again.”

Jaskier hid behind Geralt and saw that the creature had followed him.

“What in the name of Bloemenmagde is that?” the dwarf called Zigrin asked.

“It’s a hirikka,” Geralt answered, as though that explained absolutely everything about it. “It’s probably starving, sheathe your weapons.”

Herbivore then, Jaskier suspected. Geralt wouldn’t be telling everyone to put their weapons away if it was about to eat them. Probably.

Eyck didn’t listen. He drew his sword, knocked Zigrin over in his haste to approach the beast, and then mercilessly slayed the creature that was about as far from threatening as anything he’d ever seen while traveling with Geralt. It was violent, and gruesome, and incredibly revealing into exactly why someone might want to take a contract out on his head.

“For kingdom and glory!” Sir Eyck of Denesle shouted.

Jaskier was ready to throw up, and some of the others didn’ts look much better.

“Sir Eyck! You could have been killed!” Yennefer was running forward to check on the knight, playing her own role in all of this, but Jaskier knew her heart wasn’t in it.

Geralt looked incredibly disgruntled, and Jaskier wondered if they could just tell Geralt what was going on and be done with the whole entire charade.

But they couldn’t. If anything, the fact that this particular contract was so close to Geralt was a great cause for concern. So great, he almost wondered if it was time to part ways with Geralt until he had gotten the suspicion of the guild to die down. Maybe in a decade or two?

“If we’d fed it, it would have gone away,” Geralt grumbled, helping Zigrin up and then turning around to stalk away.

“Thanks.” Zigrin also turned around. “That knight may be a fuckin’ dumbbell, but I’ll be damned, that dragon won’t stand a chance.”

  
Unfortunately for Zigrin’s hypothesis, that fucking knight would not be surviving the night if Jaskier had anything to do about it. The contract was what he contract was. But he supposed that even if there hadn’t been a contract,  _ someone  _ would have killed the knight before morning.

* * *

The knight cooked the harikka that night, and Jaskier was so done with everything.

“I’m not sure I’d eat that, good Sir,” Borch said, and Jaskier didn’t listen to the bs the knight spouted about not wasting kills. He didn’t know exactly who Borch was, but Jaskier could tell when other people knew what they were talking about, and this was one of those times when the advice should be heeded.

“I can’t  _ wait  _ to serve you, my lord.”

Yennefer’s sarcasm was so thick to Jaskier’s ears, he was ready to choke on it. He needed this to end, not only for his sake. Geralt was looking  _ pretty  _ stabby.

Boholt stepped forward to take a piece of the chicken hanging over the fire that everyone else had been eating from. “How would you like to serve me tonight… Witch?”

“Careful, Boholt,” Geralt warned.

“So, the Witcher wants to play knight too, hmm?”

“No. She’s plenty able of murdering you herself.”

Geralt was still looking pretty stabby, but Jaskier agreed that Yennefer was looking equally stabby, and he knew she was more than capable of taking care of herself. They all were.

  
  


A little while passed, and then Eyck stood as his stomach grumbled unhappily, and he said, “ Oh dear. Um, I’m afraid I must take my leave.” He turned towards Yennefer. “Lady Yennefer, may I escort you to your tent?”

“Will you be joining me?”

“Uh… My Lady, I would never degrade your honor in such a way.” Eyck’s stomach continued gurgling unhappily, and Jaskier realized he knew  _ exactly  _ how he was going to murder the knight.

Jaskier snorted. He wasn’t sure whether the knight was referring to what he’d likely be up all night doing, or to Yennefer’s  _ honor,  _ but he felt like running with it. “I hate to break it to you, but that ship has sailed, wrecked and sunk to the bottom of the ocean.” Yennefer had slept with both him and Geralt several times over the last six years, besides whomever else Yennefer had deigned to sleep with, not that it was any of their business.

Geralt punched him in the arm.

“Ow.”

Eyck wandered off in search of a tree to relieve himself and Jaskier tried to figure out how to wander off without looking suspicious.

* * *

Jaskier wondered at how Borch’s simple statement about Nilfgaard had run Yennefer away from the campfire. He’d also seemed to be antagonizing Geralt about dragons. The exchange had been interesting, for sure, but he felt annoyed at Borch treating them both that way. But that didn’t matter.

He’d gotten his confirmation from Geralt that the berries were poisonous by pretending to be about to eat them (his arm  _ still  _ smarted), and had managed to time his “escape” just in time to run into Eyck coming back from relieving himself to convince him to go back to the berry bush he could see because these were just the right berries to cure his indigestion.

Rather permanently, but as long as he sent something to inform the guild that Eyck had met his untimely demise and took credit for it, all was well on that front.

He had to go get Yennefer to put up a silencing spell though, because it turned out that the berries were rather painful in their causing of demise. No wonder his arm  _ still smarted  _ from Geralt almost breaking his arm to force him to drop them.

“Couldn’t you have just… I don’t know, stabbed him?” Yennefer asked. “He was a fucking nightmare, but this seems a little violent.”

“I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to sneak away from Geralt, and at least everyone knows he’s stupid enough to do this on his own accord without thinking he might have been encouraged.”

She nodded. “Why don’t you come back to my tent and I’ll get you some hot cocoa. How does that sound?”

“That would be  _ amazing. _ ”

* * *

As Jaskier walks to Yennefer’s tent the next night, he realizes that he probably won’t live long enough to go back to the coast. He’d known that Geralt wouldn’t accept his offer, but he’d had to make it anyway. They could go to the coast, and he could leave the assassin’s guild behind for good. He’d have to tell Geralt the truth once they got to the coast, but he would have had a few more happy days left.

Part of him knew that this was going to be the last night the three of them shared for awhile. He’d received another missive from Oxenfurt, an entire stack of contracts he was expected to complete in the next year was on a desk waiting for him, and he couldn’t delay. That this one had been so close to Geralt was dangerous, too dangerous to continue sticking around. Who knew what kind of death awaited both of them if the guild ever found out about the alliance he’d made.

With Nilfgaard rapidly conquering the south and the knowledge that Cintra  _ would  _ fall, he also knew that Geralt was going to have to come to the decision to claim his law of surprise, even if he was still of the mind not too, so Jaskier couldn’t risk being the kind of distraction that allowed Geralt to pass on his destiny.

He would probably see them again, if he was right about Geralt and Yennefer being  _ his  _ destiny. But right now his destiny was telling him he had to go to Oxenfurt, and if he wanted to live to see the end of another year, he knew he had best listen to it.

Yennefer and Geralt were lying sated in Yennefer’s very large bed when he entered her tent. They were happy, and smelled greatly of sex, and he couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. They hadn’t reached the point of doing this together yet, Yennefer had mostly visited them individually, although they had all done something together once or twice.

It had felt more like courting, than the constant stream of one night stands he’d always had before.

“If you’d like to join us, I’m sure we can go another round,” Yennefer said. She and Geralt both smiled at him, and he felt  _ welcome _ .

He took off his shoes. “I’d love to join you, but I’m a little tired for a round.”

“That’s alright,” Geralt said.   
  


“You can come lie between us,” she suggested. “We can just relax.”

Jaskier nodded, and then climbed into bed between them. The bed was large enough for all three of them without risking anyone falling onto the floor, and it felt really nice when both Yennefer and Geralt cuddled against him.

He would have liked to stay awake all night, to ensure that he properly remembered this forever, but alas, he was too tired to stay awake long enough for either Yennefer or Geralt to fall asleep first.

* * *

“We should let him sleep,” Yennefer said as she laced her boots. She was referring to Jaskier, who was still sound asleep in the middle of her bed. She suspected from Geralt’s mention of turning down Jaskier’s suggestion of going to the coast that it could be awhile before they saw him again once he returned to the Assassin’s Guild.

She almost wished that Geralt had taken Jaskier up on his suggestion, because it would have meant one vacation before their survivals for sure hung in the balance. She was sure that Jaskier had spoken truth about Calenthe dying before she let her city fall, but if Nilfgaard attacked, it wasn’t certain that the city would stand, and that would put Geralt’s child of surprise in danger. He had to know he couldn’t let anything happen to her, didn’t he? And Jaskier couldn’t necessarily follow that path. Not while he still had to stay in the good graces of a guild he no longer wanted to be apart of, but could not leave.

“I agree,” Geralt concurred. “Shall we go look for a dragon?”

* * *

With the Assassin’s Guild going the route it was going, Jaskier had to believe that he’d made the right decision. He had to part ways with his Witcher and take care of the part of his past that had seen fit to contact him again after so many years doing his own thing.

So he’d told Geralt a lie that was as close to the truth as he could manage without explaining the part where he was an assassin and had been one for a very long time. He had told Geralt that there was an emergency in Oxenfurt, and that he was needed to teach a class or two until the end of the semester, and that with the way things were going politically in the south, he wasn’t sure when he’d see him again. The politics affected Oxenfurt too.

“Jaskier,” Yennefer greeted when the bard had caught up to her somewhere down the mountain. “Did you need something?”

“Yennefer, could you portal me to Oxenfurt? I’m in a bit of trouble for not filling enough contracts. I guess there’s a stack waiting.” He didn’t really want to go, but he didn’t have a choice, if he didn’t want to be branded as having gone rogue. “I’m hoping for some contracts on rapists and murderers. More… palatable, than contracts on pregnant princesses.”

“Was that why you and Geralt were in Cintra, then? Stopping such an assassination?”

“Geralt doesn’t know.”

“And yet the child surprise is his.”

“It is.” Jaskier sighed then, avoiding Yennefer’s gaze. “And it’s likely that the child surprise is the only reason I still live.”

There was silence for a moment, before he heard her hum softly. “There aren’t many reasons as to why a bard would find themselves as the target of another.”

He didn’t answer, leaving the mage to come to her own conclusions about why he would be treated as a rogue, should he avoid things much longer.

“I can take you to Oxenfurt, but it will come at a cost.”

Jaskier found himself laughing, shaking his head as he turned to face Yennefer. “A cost that I will not wish to bear, I’m sure. What is it that mages ask for? A firstborn child? Or perhaps some unnamed favor, to be collected at a time when I no longer remember what it was to be payment for?”

His words, exaggerated though they may have been, did their job, and he watched as Yennefer laughed softly, shaking her head as she smiled. “No, nothing as demanding or deceptive as that.” Slowly, her smile fell into something more serious, and Jaskier knew that he wasn’t likely to appreciate whatever she had to say next. “Trust me when I say that you can’t remain in their good graces forever. You will one day be hunted, the same as if you were another of those rapists and murderers that you take contracts on.”

She paused for a brief moment then, before reaching to take his hand. “When that time comes, I want you to come to me. Understand?”

He didn’t know what she would be able to do against the power that Oxenfurt would send against him, should they decide that he’s gone rogue after all, but he found himself nodding in agreement regardless, if only to make her happy. He wasn’t about to look a gift in the mouth, especially when it would drastically decrease his travel time, and lessen the chances of them thinking that he had attempted to run away.

“I accept your cost, if only because I have little other choice.”

Yennefer frowned then, watching him closely. “You say that as if I hold a blade against your neck.”

Jaskier smiled, a bitter thing, as he shook his head. “I assure you, if any blade is against my neck, it has not been yours as of yet.”

Yennefer continued to watch him, before finally sighing, waving a hand to summon a portal. “This will take you within a mile of the entrance of the city, so there is no suspicion as to how you arrived so quickly.”

Jaskier nodded, gently squeezing Yennefer’s hand. “Thank you, Yennefer.”

Not wanting to delay any longer than he already had, he slid his hand out from her grasp, walking into the portal, and whatever lay beyond.

* * *

It was in another shitty tavern that he found her again, sitting in the back corner as he finished up another performance, playing for coin as he waited for his next contract to come in from Oxenfurt.

He’d only been paid for two hours, and had been conned into working for three, so it was no difficult thing to walk away as he finished the song, ignoring the protests from the drunkards and the dirty glares from the owners as he packed away his lute, leaving the place behind.

He wasn’t surprised to see Yennefer follow him, easily catching up to him as he made his way towards the inn he was staying in. “A stunning performance, master bard,” she smiled, even as she glanced around the area. “Though, surely your talents would be appreciated elsewhere?”

With a laugh, he shook his head, holding out his arm for her to take. “My lady, the only thing I would wish for, would be the coin they managed to con me out of.”

“They stole from you?” Yennefer’s face darkened, and Jaskier knew that he needed to talk quickly if he wanted to keep her from doing anything drastic.

“No, nothing so sinister. They merely had me working nearly an hour past the time they paid me for, which happens far more often than one would think.”

She sighed softly, but Jaskier could see that any disasters had been avoided. “So long as you aren’t going to suffer as a result, I suppose I can let it go.”

He gasped then, raising his free hand to his heart as if in shock. “My, is that  _ caring _ I hear from you? I didn’t know you were capable of such a thing!”

Yennefer was laughing then, as she allowed him to hold the door to the inn open for her. “If you continue as you have, those will be the last caring words you hear from me!”

Their banter continued as they walked through the inn, and up to the room he had rented for the past few nights. But as soon as the door to the room closed, the atmosphere shifted.

Yennefer led him over to the bed, gently pulling him down to sit next to her. “Why are you here, Jaskier? The last I heard, you should have been almost halfway across the Continent.” She paused, reaching to brush stray hairs away from his face. “What happened?”

He sighed softly, leaning into her touch. “I’m not rogue, not yet anyway.” His eyes slid closed, as he tried to find the words to explain what was happening. “My last contract was taken out of my hands, and I was told that I was more needed here, at least for the time being. They told me that they would send me a new contract soon, depending on how things go in the coming weeks, and to lay low until then.”

“And until then, you’re staying here in Cintra.” Yennefer’s voice was soft, and Jaskier opened his eyes, to see her looking at him with warmth.

He nodded slowly, feeling the exhaustion of the past several months creeping in all at once. “I was instructed to stay in Cintra, and in Cintra I must stay.”

Yennefer nodded, before gently tugging him by the shoulders, until he was lying on the bed, his head pillowed on her thighs. “If you must do it, then I can’t stop you.” Her hands were combing through his hair then, massaging his scalp as she spoke once more. “What I can do, however, is help you rest, at least for tonight.”

Jaskier yawned, gazing up at her smiling face. “Stay with me? At least until I fall asleep?”

“My dear bard, I will only leave when you wish me to, and not a moment before.”

Satisfied that for the time being, she would be there to keep him safe, he found himself relaxing, slowly falling into the depth of sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Next up- The moment you have all been waiting for.
> 
> The truth.
> 
> Come find us on tumblr, @sageclover61.tumblr.com and @hyrulehearts1123.tumblr.com


End file.
